A Northeast Florida woman has been arrested after allegedly impersonating a registered nurse and providing medical care to thousands of unsuspecting patients over the course of 18 months, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
Autumn Bardisa, 29, from Palm Coast, was charged with seven counts of practicing a health care profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information, after a seven-month investigation involving local, state, and federal agencies, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
“This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. “This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the trust of patients.”
She was arrested Tuesday and is being held on a $70,000 bond, FCSO said.
Authorities said Bardisa used another nurse’s license number to fraudulently gain employment at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway Hospital, where she worked from July 2023 until January 2025. According to her arrest affidavit, cited by CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG, Bardisa assumed a name similar to her own in order to obtain the job, which required a registered nurse license. She claimed to be an “education first” RN, someone who completed nursing school but had not yet passed the national licensing exam.
She then told the hospital she had passed the exam and submitted a license number belonging to a nurse who shared her first name but had a different last name. Bardisa explained the discrepancy by claiming she had recently gotten married, but never provided a marriage certificate despite repeated requests, FCSO said.
Bardisa treated over 4,000 patients and allegedly administered drugs illegally
The alleged deception unraveled in January 2025, when Bardisa was considered for a promotion.
A colleague discovered she only had an expired certified nursing assistant license and notified hospital administrators. AdventHealth terminated Bardisa on Jan. 22 and contacted the sheriff’s office to launch a criminal investigation.
According to investigators, Bardisa treated approximately 4,486 patients between June 2024 and January 2025, despite never holding a valid RN license. She also allegedly received payment for those services, according to her charging affidavit cited by WKMG.
Bardisa is also accused of selling prescription medication, including semaglutide, better known by its brand name Ozempic, to a coworker and allegedly administering a birth control injection to another AdventHealth employee, WKMG reported.
Real nurse’s identity used without consent, authorities say
The real nurse whose identity was used told investigators she attended college at the same time as Bardisa but did not know her personally and never gave permission for her information to be used.
The case was investigated in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Florida Department of Health, and the Office of State Attorney R.J. Larizza for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit.
